Sunday, October 14, 2012

Week eight

I had a little bit of trouble
identifying the active and passive voice; I marked [av] every
verb that sounded even remotely active without giving any thought to
which ones were transitive verbs, and which ones were simply linking.
I was told [pv] that I needed more to go on from my journal
page, so hopefully I will do okay.

I am still really interested in the
brush strokes, yet I can't seem to find a lot of evidence of them
having been used in my earlier papers. I think I am wary of
over-expressing myself in academic papers, and reluctant to let them
sound florid, but perhaps using the brush strokes will make my papers
even better. The problem, strange and daunting,
still looms. I do not want to make my
papers sound too over-done or over-thought, as my grades have been
lowered for doing such things in the past. Changing
my style completely to get better grades, I realize there are
tasteful ways to incorporate more drama into academic writing. I
have been quite leery for some time of making it sound like I have
nothing to say and am padding my paper with obnoxious fluff in order
to hit some kind of limit.

I mean, I can say
something like, “The paper, a scroll
of nothingness that filled up the table, stopped being meaningful
long before its end.” However, that
seems unbelievably out of place, and like I'm just trying to use the
most lurid language I possibly can in order to either make myself
sound smarter, or fill a page. Mind
racing, hands flying over the keys, I desperately try to find a
balance between ridiculous and supplementary. I
like that one a little better, but it still seems strange and a
little forced. I guess practice makes perfect in an instance like
this. It's up to me to strike the balance in my own writing.

2 comments:

I also have a problem with over-expressing myself. I also tend to throw random big words into my sentences because I for some reason believe that it will make my writing sound smarter than it is and possibly make it so it actually sounds like I know what I'm talking about. In reality though, it just makes me sound scatter brained and unorganized. I agree with the fact that grades go down due to this overdone thought process. Good luck with changing your style! I will be attempting to do the same.

another fabulous blog, Shandra--and you're absolutely right about knowing when (and why!) to ever use these things in your writing. We'll be addressing that issue this week, but it's something you'll need to just keep playing with on your own. Or not. You're a prose stylist, grasshopper, your sentences already richly varied, although you may not be using these particular brush strokes.